Scenes from a Photoshoot

Last week I had an absolute blast doing a photoshoot with the talented Allie Weber for my solo show Condemned to a Life. To do this, I first had to find some puppet parts since the puppets being designed for my show are under construction. The puppeteer for my show, the fabulous Noah Ginex, provided me with some puppets and puppet parts to get the job done.

Here’s a close up of me using one of the puppet hands.

Then I had to think about how to portray the feelings and emotions and humanity that I convey in my show in images. As a veteran journalist, I’m trained to look at stories from different angles, to find the people at the heart and humanity of a topic, and a way to convey that to my audience. Condemned to a Life asks how we can break free from the labels that society puts on us to become our true selves, and explores what happens when that is not possible. It’s a show about some of the harsher realities of life, but told through the perspective of a child.

The first shot refers to the opening scene in the show where I am reading a letter to the judge at my brother’s sentencing.

Like a lot of 90s kids, I got my life lessons from TV.

The next images ask, what does it mean to walk beside someone who is not really there?

When I was 16 I was hit by a car while crossing the street. Not only did it shatter my body, but it shattered the self image I had to worked so hard to cultivate. Life was really hard, and it didn’t help that I have such a rebellious spirit, which meant it was impossible for me to ask for help.

Years of hardship including drug and alcohol abuse followed. Interestingly enough, when I reviewed my medical records years later as part of my research for a book on traumatic brain injuries in women, the very first page in my record was a note from my neurpsychologist saying that I was at an increased risk of alcohol abuse because of my past history with trauma and where the injury occurred in my brain. When I read that I was already 15 years sober.

It was a long, excruciating road to recovery and I am still very much a work-in- progress (and, in the words of Jess Sims, “a work of art at the same damn time”). Life is lifing, but today I can show up with prupose and gratitude and a desire to make life a little bit better for those around me.